Leaving spring, entering summer, ah!
All trees are lush with thick shade.
Connecting Golden Glory and Jade Hall, ah!
Palace towers deep and somber.
All officials enter together, ah!
How their talk and laughter murmur.
You alone, silent and still, grieve in heart,
Drafting the king's words, ah! unable to decline.
My sorrow lessens thought, ah! for a while,
The groom orders the carriage, ah!
Out through the Changhe Gate,
Traversing the great thoroughfares.
People on the road, ah! as before,
Known and unknown, ah! come and go.
In my eyes I see not, ah! my son.
Harness the purple steed, ah! follow the black horses,
Dim light, hanging colors, ah!
Bewildered, not knowing where they go.
Open the red door, ah! gaze toward the ornate carriage,
Expecting this child, ah! waiting at the gate.
Suddenly think of burial, ah! south of the city,
Mind confused and troubled, ah! doubly dark.
Look up and accuse Heaven's unkindness, ah!
The family has only this one person,
This person has only this one son.
Why are heirs and descendants not plentiful?
Already scarce and solitary, yet he dies.
To whom shall I leave, ah! my purity?
Inquire of the Odes and Rites, ah! it is finished.
Grief wells up within, ah! unbearable,
How have leisure to reckon, ah! how many years remain?
The sun dim, dim, ah! its splendor sinks,
Birds fluttering, fluttering, ah! swiftly fly.
Remote as the sky's end, ah! he does not return,
Yet doubt someday, ah! he will come back.
Quietly thinking, ah! of eternal severance,
Then cry out in shock, ah! wetting my robes.
A guest who condoled said:
Consider: before the beginning, ah! were there things?
All alike shed their husks, ah! why grieve?
Moreover, Yanling, ah! had not yet arrived,
How much less Xīhé, ah! knew nothing.
Learning non-birth, ah! may be possible,
Fortunately you can listen to my teacher.